Outdoor cooking fires are often difficult to ignite and, when ignited, require a time to reach cooking size and temperature which is difficult to predict. Much of the enjoyment in campfire cooking and backyard barbequing can be lost when the fire will not start or the cooking takes unduly long.
The use of coal briquettes and other commercially prepared fuels helps to overcome the uncertainty and variability in small degree. Use of liquid hydrocarbon fuels can eliminate most of the problem, except that their odor is objectionable and often affects the taste and smell of the food.
The need for liquid starter fuels is minimized by the use of a flue device. Devices of that kind have a chimney whose purpose is to create a draft through the fuel by which more air, and in particular the oxygen of the air, is made available for the combustion process. Some flue devices combine the chimney with a skirt which helps control air movement to the fire and serves to retain the heat in the fuel during start up.
Those prior flues have been large and cumbersome when effective, and a need has remained for a fire starter flue device that is easier to store and use without sacrifice of performance, and which, in fact, offers superior performance.